Prince of Peace is a Lutheran Church located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The congregation has been part of the Gaithersburg community since 1982.

The 17.8 kW rooftop solar PV system will produce 22,998 kWh of clean, renewable solar energy throughout the first twelve months of use. Over the next 20 years, the solar PV, installed by Solar Energy World, will avoid the consumption of 459,960 kWh of energy not sourced from the local utility provider, mitigating 198 metric tons of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. These energy savings will lead to projected savings of $16,480 over 20 years in reduced electricity bills for the building.

The solar project will be financed through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement between RE-volv, the solar developer, and Prince of Peace. The Green Bank provided a $41,461loan to Re-volv to reduce the end costs to the Church and to increase the Church’s savings.

The Commercial Solar Power Purchase Agreement (CSPPA) program developed by the Montgomery County Green Bank allowed Prince of Peace Lutheran Church to install solar and experience the benefits of solar without upfront costs through a no money down rental agreement with RE-volv. In this PPA, or rental agreement, RE-volv pays for all maintenance and operations costs, while Prince of Peace only pays for the electricity produced by the solar system at a contracted price that is less than the current electricity costs from the utility provider.

The Montgomery County Green Bank has been working closely with Interfaith Power & Light on helping faith communities go solar. See ipldmv.org/solar  for more resources from Interfaith Power & Light, including a map of existing faith communities with solar and a recording of an info session on solar for faith communities.